India is continuing its investigations into cryptocurrency after government officials voted in favor of regulation.
An interministerial meeting held Tuesday by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley brought up “several issues concerning Bitcoins,” Business Today reports, without an immediate “decision” taken.
India has faced mixed messages from senior government and central bank sources regarding the legality of cryptocurrency, prompting local businesses to issue clarifications themselves for worried consumers.
Now the regulation appears to be practically inevitable in the short to medium term. Ministers are focusing on the weak points in the ecosystem which could potentially cause legal problems.
“The meeting was attended by IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, NITI Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya, home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, economic affairs Secretary Tapan Ray, financial services secretary Anjuly Chib Duggal and other senior officials,” Business Today notes.
Bitcoin, in particular, has gained a high profile in Indian media, often for the wrong reasons as criminal proceedings involving the virtual currency regularly hit the headlines.
While Cointelegraph highlighted last week that the appetite for crypto on the ground remains barely perceptible, the online environment is flourishing, with trading platforms especially seeing continued major uptake.